Hopes of Paris

Chapter Zero: Prologue

Wind was everything that could be heard in that place. A humanly figure stood in the distance on the very edge of what seemed to be a skyscraper among white nothingness. Thick fog covered that corner of the world, and clouds could be seen moving fast below the building. The person standing there was a tall, thin brunet man that looked like he was in his early twenties. He had short, messy black hair that almost covered his eyes. Those eyes had the exact same color as his hair did, and they weren't blinking. The male was wearing plain black clothes entirely as well, and wore nothing in his feet. He wasn't looking anywhere specific as if he was blanked out, and his eyes spoke of everything but livingness.

Silence enveloped the world. The wind stopped and the fog halted its movement. With no words spoken at all, the man's body started arching forward and his bare feet finally gave up on the edge of the high building. He started falling to what had no end. The sound of pressure and wind was all he could hear as he fell. His expressions didn't even change. He didn't even look afraid or frightened of dying. In fact, he had a faint smile on his face with his eyes closed. In between all the quietness and the sound of air against this guy's ears, an echo could be heard fading in. Slowly, he realizes it's the sound of some girl, and that it's coming from behind him.

"Sall... Sall!" She had a gentle voice, and sounded like an angel within all this calmness.

As he fell, the male figure forced himself to turn around. The girl was falling right behind him, reaching a hand to help him out. She had light brown hair, light brown eyes, was a little chubby and wore white all around."Sally...?" Sall squinted his eyes as he took a closer look at the girl, and he mumbled under his weak breath. Apparently, this girl was someone he knew.

"Wake up!" Her voice grew higher in pitch, and she sounded much closer to him now. Everything suddenly went black and disappeared as if there was some sort of transition going on.

His eyes widely opened in terror and so did his mouth as he gasped in shock. His body, however, did not move a single inch, and the first thing that would fall infront of his gaze was his sister, Sally. The blurriness finally faded away and Sall realized that what he had just went through was a dream. She was bent over his line of view, standing by his bed of white sheets and three pillows. It was his room he was sleeping in, after all.

"It's time to go." The short, playful female was trying to cheerfully force her brother out of bed. She stepped back as he sat up on the bed, and watched him as he softly massaged his own head through his messed up hair.

"How weird... It felt like the longest dream ever." By now, Sall had already lost memory of most of the dream, but it definitely felt more than long. It also felt real.

"Hmph," Sally turned around to look at her brother as she walked away. Something about the tone of his voice felt different. It was cracking. "Sall? You're crying." He had a ceiling fan working on top of the bed as it was the middle of the summer, so those tears could never be sweat at all.

"Huh?" He questioned, placing his left hand on his cheek as the other supported his sitting position on the bed. A rare breeze followed through the open window next to his bed that slightly moved the curtains.

"I haven't seen you cry for five years." The sister looked with sympathy at her brother. It was a dream, and probably an emotional one. She seems to know what type of dreams he usually has, so she didn't say anything further and just left the room.

By now, Sall was rubbing his eyes clean from the tears, then he took a few quick looks around his room. The wallpaper was dark blue, and the floor had rotten green carpet. The room was filled with shelves that had a collection of video games and gaming consoles on them, but barely any books at all. Sall moved the blanket away from him, revealing that he had been sleeping without a shirt on along with his dark and tanned slim body. He moved his legs out off the top of the bed and wore his white slippers that got mostly covered by the dark blue pajama pants he was wearing, and stood up. On his night table, there was a portrait of him with his sister when they were young children. They looked around thirteen years old in that photograph and there was a green screen background behind them that mostly involved flowers and trees. He disconnected his earphones from his phone that rested on the same night table, and a song played loudly on his phone's speakers. Apparently, he had been playing it on loop just before falling asleep. The song's title was Prohibited Arts - Shadow of the Colossus.